SpaceX’s robotic Dragon capsule has made a trouble-free cargo delivery to the International Space Station, one day after a navigational glitch forced a rare wave-off.
Astronauts used the station’s robotic arm to bring in the Dragon for its attachment to a port on the Harmony module at 5:12 a.m. PT today.
“Today was smooth sailing all the way along,” NASA spokesman Rob Navias said after the hookup. “A perfect vehicle for SpaceX, as it arrived right on time.”
Wednesday’s rendezvous was spoiled when the Dragon’s computers received an incorrect reading for its position relative to the space station at a distance of about 1,200 feet. That triggered an automatic abort for the cargo ship’s approach.
The Dragon was launched on Sunday with nearly 5,500 pounds of supplies and experiments, including a scientific package that will be mounted onto the space station’s exterior and study the atmosphere from above.
Yet another arrival is expected early Friday, when a Russian Progress robotic cargo ship is due to deliver another 5,400 pounds of supplies to the station. That capsule will be docked to a different port on the Russian-built Pirs module.
Your crew, commander @astro_kimbrough & pilot thank you for choosing @Space_Station & the teams of @SpaceX & @NASA for their phenomenal work pic.twitter.com/Zh0P1y6MaE
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) February 23, 2017
